On Sunday morning, the girl discovered that her magic stone still existed.

She hadn’t been looking for it. In fact, she’d almost forgotten the conversation with her friend with the blue notebook, who had suggested finding the stone she’d hidden in her backpack on her first day of school.

But that morning, her mother had asked her to clear out the bottom shelf of the cupboard. The old books piled there had begun leaning against one another and looked ready to fall.

The girl pulled out a stack of notebooks, a box of dried-out crayons, a single doll’s shoe, and an envelope full of stickers that no longer stuck to anything.

Behind them, she found a small purple backpack.

She recognized it immediately.